Monolith Cocktail Blog

Premiere/Dominic Valvona

Yonic South   ‘On’
(La Tempesta Dischi)   Taken from the upcoming Twix & Dive EP/14^th May 2020

Almost sweet and breezy in its cause static fuzz, busy shimmered bed of cymbals and chewed up slacker guitars, today’s premiere teaser showcases an earlier, more naïve, heart-on-the-sleeve incarnation of the Italian switcheroo Sonic Youth mischief makers, Yonic South. Taken from the upcoming new EP, Twix & Dive (which, as the title might suggest, is at least partially a fascination with the famous chocolate caramel bar), ‘On’ strikes a dang chord before slipping into a yearning howl of scuzzy, bending lo fi.

Following up on last year’s debut EP Wild Cobs, the garage punk agitators have already gone nostalgic with their latest record; going back, as they have, to the heady early days; back before they corralled, current, drummer ‘Johnny Lad’ into the band. Twix & Dive is made up of both brash post-punk derangements and more dwindling C86 Anglophile guitar dirges: the sound of a band finding their sonic calling you could say.

With an interest for UK culture of the 90s and 2000s, the Italian troupe of members from the Bee Bee Sea and Miss Chain & The Broken Heels fraternity, turn in a raucous garage punk rumble of Oasis’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, and pen a hypnotic Hooky bassline imbued grinding tribute to one of Anfield’s finest, Steven Gerrard (now, interesting fact, managing my own preferred Glasgow club of Rangers). Just one of many fascinations – previous popular culture icons of fun include the viral Techno Viking – an obsession with Liverpool football club results in a eulogy like track suffused with the sound of the Kop ringing out as the anointed footballer reads a farewell message to the stands.

For those unfamiliar with the Yonic South’s fanaticism and surreal humour, their sound is a cacophony of Thee Oh Sees, Black Lips, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Country Teasers and Swell Maps.

Their prolific touring schedule has seen them deliver riotous live performances around their native Italy and on a recent European tour, which saw them share stages with the likes of King Khan, Preoccupations, and Warmduscher.

For your aural displeasures, the Monolith Cocktail presents teaser, ‘On’.

Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.